Recently I sold my B7 RS4 having covered the best part of 100,000 miles in it over the last 4 years. I thought some of you might be interested in my thoughts on the ownership experience, so here goes. If you're not then move on, nothing to see here and no, I've no idea what's next, still.
The RS4 today is one of those cars that you really don't want to be selling or worse trying to trade in, not least when it has over 100k on the clock. It's a car that demons drive because it kills rain forests, murders third world children each time you start the engine and consumes 5% of your local petrol stations petrol turnover per year....each week. I suspect my average MPG, based on mostly long journeys lest you forget, was around 21mpg. I am not going to add up how much that's cost in petrol, but I suspect you could buy Iceland with it and not the place frequented by chavs and people who like cheap cake! Never have I seen so many sales peoples faces turn from hello sir to 'don't like it' in the space of a few seconds. "What are you expecting for it?", followed by shifting feet and lots of ground staring, usually followed by a sales person NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN. Anyway, I got it moved on and in reality the person who buys it will be getting an excellent car that has an engine and chassis that feel better than many lower mileage versions, I know, I've driven a few and there really are some utter dogs out there in RS4 world so be wary!
Costs
Tyres were actually quite good and I think 20K miles is reasonable on the sort of journeys I was doing, so not bad really and the wear rate was fairly equal front to back. I ran Pirelli's, Goodyears, Bridgestone and Continental's on it and the Continental's were best, the Goodyears the worst as they didn't suit the car at all. You are looking around £230 a corner for tyres so not cheap but not super pricey, 255/35/ZR19 tyres. Soft sidewalls (I suspect the Goodyears have these) were not good and made the car wobble a bit during cornering and also he Goodyears had a habit of understeering at very slow speeds when turning at tight lock which was REALLY annoying.
Servicing varied between £400 for a cheap one to £1200 for a not cheap one. The RS4 runs variable servicing and my car was calling service between 17K and 18K miles, which I feel it too much. Last two services were based on 10K miles due to age and I had taken it off long life servicing. I also didn't feel obliged to pay Audi £400 for an oil change and some bad washing, so an independent at £150 was much more sensible and I also got a full diagnostic print out with any error codes. Audi were learning the RS4 in early days and I was a bit of a test driver for a few months as I was piling on the miles before others so coming up on some of the now known problems first, such as coaking and emissions, more of that in a bit.
The main costs really were petrol, tyres and servicing but also you need to add consumables to that too. I had 2 sets of discs in my time, £1,400ish a set and also 3 sets of pads £600 a set.
Oh yea, let me just leave you with something....
Warranty renewal after 70K miles?
£2,400
What didn't break that everyone says does
Clutch. I've never done one in my life and didn't do one on this car. I don't do racing starts, I don't ride clutches and I know how to smooth change. I also do lots of long journeys too so that all adds up to good clutch life I'm sure, but I know people talk about 50K new clutch required, which is crap.
Seat bolsters for a car with 108K miles on the clock were very good. Simple reason is I know how to climb into a bucket seat and get out. I'm no skinny sod either so again user error causes wrecked bolsters, no other reason. DRC issues didn't impact me really. Again lots of problems here for others and I did have 2 done under warranty when 1 leaked early doors, but other than that all fine, though they did feel a little tired.
What did go wrong
Loads!
I had major problems in the first year with the engine management light coming on, often showing no apparent reason. Now I don't go with the "it's just one of those things sir" so the car spent weeks in the dealers during its first year with me having all sorts checked. Various updates to software, usually turning down sensitivity(!) and various flaps and air related sensors changed and major work faffing with the top end inducation seeing lots of new bits added through a process of elimination.
I also had the exhaust system at the back replaced when the flaps seized so I wasn't getting full noise when I pressed the sport button. This was put down also to a failed engine sensor which was fooling the sport button and not opening up stuff. Induction was an issue on the early cars and I believe I had a few changes (I lose track) during the first 18 months, luckily all paid for by Audi.
Engine coking, my car was one of the first where this became apparent and this is where Mr Audi got serious. We had people over from Zee Germans to have a play and fiddle with it and also Audi gave it a good clean out too but it's a problem that impacts all RS4's. I am not convinced is saps the power to the level the rollings roads suggest, but I also don't think the RS4 puts out the power Audi claims and if it does the transmission and weight really impacts it.
OK, I need a rest, I'll add more in a bit
...
All of these issues in the first 12 months and due to the time it had been off the road meant I managed to negotiate a free warranty renewal from Stafford Audi, so fair play to them. Simon on their customer service desk is a star and Steve there customer service head at the time were great during my problems, pragmatic and realistic, though it's a shame their finance 'expert' (since gone) was so useless at sorting out paperwork properly. The pain I had with Bank of Scotland is the stuff of nightmares that took me 4 months to sort through NOTHING to do with me. Whits of ****
I had no major issues in my ownership however, all seemed to be sensor and preventative, such as injectors replaced, new battery pin welded on due to a recall, of which I think there were 4 in my ownership time and general sensor related stuff. Considering the amount of miles and sometimes hard driving the car was given (not silly, just rapid now and again) it was relatively reliable, but compared to an M3 and GT3 not as good. My first M3 had a failed VANOS but outside of that nothing on either and my GT3 was faultless. Both the BMW and most certainly the Porsche felt stronger and didn't suffer from the same sort of niggles the RS4 did.
The RS4 today is one of those cars that you really don't want to be selling or worse trying to trade in, not least when it has over 100k on the clock. It's a car that demons drive because it kills rain forests, murders third world children each time you start the engine and consumes 5% of your local petrol stations petrol turnover per year....each week. I suspect my average MPG, based on mostly long journeys lest you forget, was around 21mpg. I am not going to add up how much that's cost in petrol, but I suspect you could buy Iceland with it and not the place frequented by chavs and people who like cheap cake! Never have I seen so many sales peoples faces turn from hello sir to 'don't like it' in the space of a few seconds. "What are you expecting for it?", followed by shifting feet and lots of ground staring, usually followed by a sales person NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN. Anyway, I got it moved on and in reality the person who buys it will be getting an excellent car that has an engine and chassis that feel better than many lower mileage versions, I know, I've driven a few and there really are some utter dogs out there in RS4 world so be wary!
Costs
Tyres were actually quite good and I think 20K miles is reasonable on the sort of journeys I was doing, so not bad really and the wear rate was fairly equal front to back. I ran Pirelli's, Goodyears, Bridgestone and Continental's on it and the Continental's were best, the Goodyears the worst as they didn't suit the car at all. You are looking around £230 a corner for tyres so not cheap but not super pricey, 255/35/ZR19 tyres. Soft sidewalls (I suspect the Goodyears have these) were not good and made the car wobble a bit during cornering and also he Goodyears had a habit of understeering at very slow speeds when turning at tight lock which was REALLY annoying.
Servicing varied between £400 for a cheap one to £1200 for a not cheap one. The RS4 runs variable servicing and my car was calling service between 17K and 18K miles, which I feel it too much. Last two services were based on 10K miles due to age and I had taken it off long life servicing. I also didn't feel obliged to pay Audi £400 for an oil change and some bad washing, so an independent at £150 was much more sensible and I also got a full diagnostic print out with any error codes. Audi were learning the RS4 in early days and I was a bit of a test driver for a few months as I was piling on the miles before others so coming up on some of the now known problems first, such as coaking and emissions, more of that in a bit.
The main costs really were petrol, tyres and servicing but also you need to add consumables to that too. I had 2 sets of discs in my time, £1,400ish a set and also 3 sets of pads £600 a set.
Oh yea, let me just leave you with something....
Warranty renewal after 70K miles?
£2,400
What didn't break that everyone says does
Clutch. I've never done one in my life and didn't do one on this car. I don't do racing starts, I don't ride clutches and I know how to smooth change. I also do lots of long journeys too so that all adds up to good clutch life I'm sure, but I know people talk about 50K new clutch required, which is crap.
Seat bolsters for a car with 108K miles on the clock were very good. Simple reason is I know how to climb into a bucket seat and get out. I'm no skinny sod either so again user error causes wrecked bolsters, no other reason. DRC issues didn't impact me really. Again lots of problems here for others and I did have 2 done under warranty when 1 leaked early doors, but other than that all fine, though they did feel a little tired.
What did go wrong
Loads!
I had major problems in the first year with the engine management light coming on, often showing no apparent reason. Now I don't go with the "it's just one of those things sir" so the car spent weeks in the dealers during its first year with me having all sorts checked. Various updates to software, usually turning down sensitivity(!) and various flaps and air related sensors changed and major work faffing with the top end inducation seeing lots of new bits added through a process of elimination.
I also had the exhaust system at the back replaced when the flaps seized so I wasn't getting full noise when I pressed the sport button. This was put down also to a failed engine sensor which was fooling the sport button and not opening up stuff. Induction was an issue on the early cars and I believe I had a few changes (I lose track) during the first 18 months, luckily all paid for by Audi.
Engine coking, my car was one of the first where this became apparent and this is where Mr Audi got serious. We had people over from Zee Germans to have a play and fiddle with it and also Audi gave it a good clean out too but it's a problem that impacts all RS4's. I am not convinced is saps the power to the level the rollings roads suggest, but I also don't think the RS4 puts out the power Audi claims and if it does the transmission and weight really impacts it.
- Tyre sensors, temperamental, quite a few false positives.
- Seat inflation temperamental and replaced under warranty.
- Steering wheel badges faded
- Rattled lots when cold, usually passenger seat
- Gearbox never super smooth
- Air con failed needing a new sensor, £115 fitted by a local specialist, but no regas needed in 108K miles
OK, I need a rest, I'll add more in a bit
...
All of these issues in the first 12 months and due to the time it had been off the road meant I managed to negotiate a free warranty renewal from Stafford Audi, so fair play to them. Simon on their customer service desk is a star and Steve there customer service head at the time were great during my problems, pragmatic and realistic, though it's a shame their finance 'expert' (since gone) was so useless at sorting out paperwork properly. The pain I had with Bank of Scotland is the stuff of nightmares that took me 4 months to sort through NOTHING to do with me. Whits of ****
I had no major issues in my ownership however, all seemed to be sensor and preventative, such as injectors replaced, new battery pin welded on due to a recall, of which I think there were 4 in my ownership time and general sensor related stuff. Considering the amount of miles and sometimes hard driving the car was given (not silly, just rapid now and again) it was relatively reliable, but compared to an M3 and GT3 not as good. My first M3 had a failed VANOS but outside of that nothing on either and my GT3 was faultless. Both the BMW and most certainly the Porsche felt stronger and didn't suffer from the same sort of niggles the RS4 did.
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